Covering topics on religion, philosophy and life, this blog attempts to make biblical truths simple for the average believer. As porridge is soft to aid digestion, so the blog contents are easily understood.
However, there is also meaty stuff for those who aspire to go deeper. The relevance of the Bible in our daily life (areas such as finances, sex, marriage, health and emotional healing) is also dealt with.

Pages

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

In
my interaction with fellow believers, when the topic touches on salvation and eternal
security, some would cite the example of how the dying thief got saved through
faith in Christ alone and how he was immediately ushered to paradise. You see, they
tell me, it is “all by faith” and this incident is in agreement other
references that we are saved by faith alone (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9).

Yet,
if we consider the whole counsel of the word of God, we will quickly realise that
faith has to be proven by works (James 2:17,22,24,26). Intellectual faith not
matched by works, obedience, endurance, perseverance and fruit-bearing is dead (John
3:36, John 15:6, Colossians 1:21-23, 1 Timothy 4:16, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 10:
38-39, Jude 5, Matthew 24:13).

Faith
and obedience are inextricably intertwined. If we say we believe in God but
refuse to obey Him, we are deceiving ourselves for John 3:36 teaches those who
disobey God will face His judgment and will not be saved. Also Hebrew 5:9 tells
us Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

Many
who believe in ‘faith is all that matters’ and ‘Once Saved, Always Saved’ (OSAS)
would have great difficulty swallowing the harsh truth that believers will finally
be judged. The
following passage in Hebrews 10 is one of the greatest bugbears to eternal security (OSAS)
adherents. It will be like a thorn in the flesh, debunking their ‘feel good’ theology.

Forif we go
onsinning deliberatelyafter receiving the
knowledge of the truth,there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins,but a
fearful expectation of judgment, anda fury of
fire that will consume the adversaries.Anyone
who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercyon the
evidence of two or three witnesses.How much
worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the onewho has
trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profanedthe blood
of the covenantby which he was sanctified, and hasoutraged
the Spirit of grace?For we know him who said,“Vengeance
is mine; I will repay.” And again,“The Lord will judge his people.”It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

Notice the
reference to the Mosaic law about judgment against sin (physical death) and the fact
that Christ’s blood no longer avails for those who keep on living in sin in
this Hebrews10 passage. This means that believers can suffer spiritual death
and lose their salvation if they trample on Christ’s atoning blood. That is why,
as the passage ends, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God”.
There is no other “feel good” interpretation to circumvent this passage;
furthermore, it is clearly stated that it is God’s people (genuine believers) who
will be judged. The words ‘dies’ and ‘fire’ clearly speak of God’s wrath.

Peter
quoted Moses’ teaching that God will raise up a prophet (Jesus) and every soul
that does not obey Christ will be destroyed (Acts 3:22-23).

Paul wrote
to the believers at Corinth: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the
body, whether good or evil (2
Corinthians 5:10).

For it is
time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us,
what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If
the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the
sinner?” (1 Peter 4: 17-18).

Many
believers like to think that Christians will be judged only from the
perspective of quantum of rewards—more faithful ones receive greater rewards than
ordinary believers but that is not the whole story. The above passage in
Hebrews 10 tells us that by choosing to deliberately live in sin, we will invite
God’s judgment—for which Christ’s atoning blood is ineffectual; and that simply
means believers may lose their salvation.

All of God’s people will be judged. The rotten
apples will be condemned if they:

Choose to live in sin

deny God or

commit apostasy (turn their backs on God)

Let us consider each of these three
categories of believers in turn:

Those who willfully live in sin, harden their hearts
and refuse to repent will be judged severely.For how can a holy God coexist with the immoral
in heaven? If one has been saved and sanctified and yet choose to be like a pig
and return to the swill, how can God accept one into the Kingdom of God?

For
if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and
overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would
have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it
has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own
vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire”(2 Peter 2:
20-22).

Do
you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

Now
the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,
dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I
warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5: 19-21).

For
you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or
who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God (Ephesians 5:5).

But
as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake
that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).

But those
who sin but later humble themselves by repenting will be saved (Luke 13:5, Luke
18: 9-14).

Believers who deny God will not be saved.Let us be reminded in these perilous end-times
when we are likely to face life-threatening decisions—to acknowledge or deny
Christ— whether it is through persecution
(as in the case when a gun is pointed at one’s head) or when we are challenged
to take the Mark of the Beast in
order to survive.

If
we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us(2 Timothy 2:12).

“Therefore
whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who
is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My
Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10: 32-33).

Apostasy is condemned; it seems impossible to
restore apostates.

For
it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once
enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in
the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power
of the age to come—and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring
such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves
are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. When
the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it
has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless.
The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. (Hebrews 6:4-8).

God’s judgment is impartial and
thorough. His fire will test our good works—whether
it is genuine or not—before He assigns His rewards.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest,
for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealedby fire, andthe fire will test what sort of work each one has
done.If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives,he will receive a reward.If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer
loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1
Corinthians 3:12-15).

This
passage tells us that some believers may lose their eternal rewards BUT
eventually they are saved. Loss of rewards may happen because their works are
tainted with wrong motive or pride. For example, those who flaunt their
charitable deeds or love praying publicly to show off will not be rewarded in
future (Matthew 6:1-6). As Paul said, God “will bring to light the things now
hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart”(1 Corinthians 4:5).

Not all who call themselves believers will be saved;
profession does not equal possession.

Christ
warned that there will be a separation of goats from sheep when He returns— professing
believers in church will be separated from genuine believers (Matthew 25:31-46).
“Goats” and “sheep” look quite like in a congregation. No one really knows
until Christ shows up again to “sieve” the church.

Notice that
Christ repeatedly warned that there will be a separation of good and evil. He
used farming and fishing metaphors, which were familiar to the listeners in
that era, to get His point across:

In the
Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43), the tares will
be gathered and burnt whereas the wheat will be preserved.

In the
Parable of Dragnet (Matthew 13:47-52), the kingdom of heaven is like a net full
of fish. When the net is full, men will select the good fish and discard the
bad ones.

False teachers—who were believers once upon a time—will
suffer consequences worse than that of unbelievers:

Butfalse prophets also arose among the
people,just as there will be
false teachers among you, who willsecretly
bring in destructive heresies, even denying
the Masterwho bought them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1).

For if,after they have escaped the defilements of the
world through the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled in them and overcome,the last
state has become worse for them than the first.Forit would have been better for them never to have
known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back fromthe
holy commandment delivered to them (2 Peter 2: 20-21).

By the way, can you figure out why these false teachers are
referred to as twice dead in Jude
12?

We are personally
accountable

Friends, do not depend on liberal theology
espoused by ‘feel good’ preachers. In the end on judgment day, we are personally
accountable
to God.

So why do you condemn another believer? Why do
you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the
judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the
Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to
God.’” Yes, each of us will give a personal
account to God (Romans 14:10-12).

When God calls us to give an account, we cannot
rationalise that preacher X made me think and behave like that. In the first
place, why did we draw conclusions through the tinted lens of someone else’s liberal
theology instead of studying the Bible first-hand by ourselves like the Bereans?

Of course, we all prefer a God who does not judge
us but only wants to bless us. But such a belief is wishful thinking—escaping
from the truth revealed in the Word. A holy God will definitely judge
believers—in keeping with His attributes of righteousness and justice. https://bit.ly/2ScxyN9In conclusion, believers will be appraised according
to our faithfulness, works and fruit-bearing and the appropriate rewards will
be assigned to us. However, this is not the full story—some believers may lose
their salvation, a view that will not go well with adherents of eternal
security (OSAS) and Calvinism.

ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS
SAVED?

The
challenge I have with this teaching—ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED (OSAS)—is its
failure to interpret individual passages honestly that disagree with this
particular system. For example, Hebrews 6:1-8 and 10:24-29 clearly teach that
people, after receiving the saving knowledge of Christ, can fall away and lose
their salvation. Second Peter 2:20-22 and James 5:19-20 are as clear as tar on
snow that a believer can fall away and once again be called sinners who have to
be restored.

―Joseph Mattera, Presiding Bishop of Christ
Covenant Coalition and Overseeing Bishop of Resurrection Church in New York.

POSTSCRIPT

As a young believer, I used to believe the simplistic
classification
taught by theologians:

Christians will never face condemnation when we
stand before the judgment seat ofChrist
(2
Corinthians 5:9-10). The purpose of this judgment is to assess the believers' works and assign the appropriate rewards. Our eternal destiny is secure and
there is no retribution.

Non-believers, on the contrary, will have to
stand before God in the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) and face God’s wrath.

However, now after more than four decades as a
believer, my theological worldview has dramatically changed. It is no longer
true that believers will not face God’s wrath and there are so many references
that support this view, including the dreaded passage in Hebrews 10:26-31 which
states: “The
Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God.”
(Of course, this warning applies only to those believers who willfully live in
sin and refuse to repent).

Notice that the book of Hebrews is primarily
written to Jewish believers to encourage them in the faith and warn them
against the dangerous eternal consequences of giving up on God (apostasy).
Though some may argue that those who fall away are not genuine believers (not
saved in the first place), and that genuine believers will definitely endure
till the end, this weak argument does not dismiss the fact that the primary
audience of this book was genuine Jewish believers.

Some say that God
will never forsake believers and that nothing will separate us from His love.
However, has this ever crossed your mind? God may not leave us but we can walk
away from God. It takes two to tango.https://bit.ly/2YnIuvF

Monday, 20 April 2020

In the current coronavirus pandemic, we are warned about the danger of fake news, misinformation and false beliefs.
Similarly, false doctrines are equally dangerous, if not more. Why is that so?

In this viral pandemic we are often warned about the danger of embracing false beliefs. Believing
that God promises believers absolute protection from the virus (based on Psalm
91) without us taking any precautions is being foolhardy. Some have died in
this pandemic because they are too gung ho in their “faith”, having failed to
practise simple measures like social distancing, frequent hand washing and
wearing masks.

From
the pandemic, we learn that wrong beliefs may result in physical death. But false
doctrine may lead to something more grievous—spiritual death with eternal
separation from God’s presence. Imagine spending eternity in hell like rich man
in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Now
who says what we believe isn’t important? It has dual consequences—physical and
spiritual, temporal and eternal, now and in the hereafter.

Let
us now examine four major false doctrines which may prove dangerous to our
eternal destiny.

Belief equals obedience - John 3:36

First,
the widely-held false belief that once we are saved our eternal destiny is
secure—we will definitely go heaven. ‘Once Saved, Always Saved’ (OSAS) is the
biggest lie ever foisted on the minds of believers. It is true that salvation
is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). None should dispute that. But if
we think faith does not require any personal commitment on our part (obedience,
good works, fruit-bearing, endurance), we have erred. “He who believes in the
Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but
the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Faith not proven by works is dead
(James 2: 17, 24, 26). Furthermore, if believers willfully live in sin or choose
to deny God, there is no way they will be accepted into God’s kingdom (Hebrews
6:4-6, Hebrews10: 26-31, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 21:8). If they take the
Mark of the Beast, under pressure from the Antichrist in the Great Tribulation,
they will surely come under condemnation (Rev.14: 9-11).“If
a teacher merely tells you that God will keep you since He has chosen
you out of His sovereign plan, and that you do not have to overcome sin,
deception and persecution, whether you obey or not is immaterial
because OSAS, that teacher is pulling the wool over your eyes. While it
is true that faith rests in God's promises (the passive part), faith is
also ACTIVE. And this ACTIVE part is what that teacher fails to tell
you. Faith requires us to overcome, endure, persevere and be
accountable. Why did Paul say, Fight the good fight of faith?"

―Porridge for the Soul

Second,
undue emphasis on God’s grace to such an extent that His justice is downplayed
or ignored is a most dangerous false doctrine. This is the ear-tickling (2 Tim.
4:3), sugar-coated dangerous error of hyper-grace. Basically, it tells us that
once we believe in Christ we are justified, henceforth God will continually see
us as righteous; we merely need to rest in Christ’s imputed righteousness. It
claims that there is no need to confess our sins as all our sins, including
future sins, have been forgiven. It also asserts that believers saved by grace
are free from the demands of the law, that the Holy Spirit will not convict
believers of sin, and that obedience on the believers’ part would nullify God’s
grace. This teaching somewhat implies we have the licence to continue
living in sin. But, clearly, we must not continue living in sin that
grace may abound (Romans 6:1-2). For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly
passions (Titus 2: 11-12). Finally, this
genre of “feel good” teaching attracts a huge following for it emphasises blessings―what
we can get from God as opposed to self-denial and surrender to God―and
downplays trials, suffering, costly discipleship and persecution. Who would not want such a watered-down version of Christianity? Joseph Prince, New Creation Church, Singapore, is
considered by many to be the main progenitor of hyper-grace (‘pseudo grace’/ ‘cheap
grace’/ ‘hyped-up grace’). For more: http://bit.ly/1ibPiTU

Third,
another big lie is that God promises us perfect health and material prosperity
on earth. Believers who fall for this ‘prosperity gospel’ may be in for a nasty
surprise when, despite their spiritual fervour, they are stricken with serious
illnesses or experience financial shake-up like foreclosure and bankruptcy. To
rub salt to the wound, such a lie often puts believers on a guilt trip: “All
these bad things happen to you because you lack faith.” This false belief may
also lead believers to become disillusioned with God when they or their loved
ones suffer from a terminal illness, like cancer, in spite of fervent prayers. Believers
who hold this false concept of God have only themselves to blame, not God.In the first place, God never promises to
heal always; He never guarantees perfect health.

Related
to the foregoing is the ‘name it, claim it’ heresy propagated by the ‘Word of
Faith’ movement—that we can call into existence things that are not there. This
is clearly a misreading of Romans 4:17, where it is God (not believers) who has
the power to call things that are not there into existence. Believers cannot simply
command, decree or declare for things to materialise. Furthermore, we cannot
“bypass” the will of God (1 John 5: 14) and call into existence material
things, like a luxury car, using “faith” as a tool to fulfil our selfish
desires (James 4:3). Surely we cannot arm-twist and manipulate God for our own
agenda.

Fourth,
another dangerous lie is that our belief in God needs to be validated by
sensational experiences and spectacular signs and wonders … and, if necessary,
believers may need to go beyond the bounds of scriptures in order to truly
“know” God. This movement exalts experience and “miracles” but denigrates
scriptures. It also elevates man to become self-styled apostles and prophets
who can receive instruction directly from God. Some even claim that their
teaching carry the same weight and authority as scriptures. They love to
highlight things like gold dust, angel feathers, glory cloud, “grave sucking”. Even
New Age and other outlandish beliefs have been incorporated into its theology
and practice. Jesus warned: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a
sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:4).
In the past, we usually associate revival with repentance, changed lives and
fear of God. But the new revivalism is one marked by sensational experiences
and signs and wonders with hardly any mention/emphasis on repentance from sin. The
leader of this deviant movement is Bill Johnson of Bethel church, Redding,
California. The wider movement commonly associated with this kind of teaching
is the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). For more: https://bit.ly/2XTHwXp

Grave sucking to extract the "anointing" from tombs of departed saints

What
do all these false teachings have in common? They tend to make believers
complacent and give them a “feel good” feeling and a false sense of security. This
reminds me of a frog which derives great pleasure resting in a basin of warm
water. Finally, when the water temperature reaches boiling point, it is too
late to jump out of the water. The frog has been lulled into a false sense of
security by the warm bath water; ultimately, it gets cooked to death. That is the
tragic result when believers are deceived and get sucked into the whirlpool of
deadly, destructive heresies (2
Peter 2:1).

Today,
the greatest danger to the church is not outside but lies within it. For certain
men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
Christ (Jude 4). These are the false prophets who come to believers in sheep's
clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15). Like the great
deceiver, the serpent, these false teachers worm their way into the church,
causing it to implode.

If
we have eternal security (OSAS), if our future sins have been forgiven
(hyper-grace), if we enjoy good health and prosperity (prosperity gospel) and have
wonderful sensational experiences purportedly from God (Bill Johnson and NAR)—as
these false teachings seem to tell us—it means that God is pleased with us, His
favour and blessing are upon us, and we are on our way to heaven if we should
pass away. True? Not necessarily so. Don’t make assumptions based on misguided
or false beliefs.

Salvation
is not just an event that happened at a point in time in the past. True, we
made a decision for Christ in the past. But we will not inherit this salvation
till we fulfill all the conditions that come with it. Far more than just an
event, salvation is a process (1 Peter 1:3-5). Unrepentant sin has to be dealt
with (Luke 13:5). Past faithfulness cannot absolve us from blame if, at
present, we decide to turn our backs on God (Hebrew 3:14, Hebrews 10: 39, Matthew
24:13). Being an apostle or prophet does not necessarily mean we are in God’s
good books and come under His favour. For
profession is not the same as possession:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty
works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

That
is why Paul warned that we have to embrace correct doctrine—and persevere in
sound doctrine—in order that we might be saved (1 Timothy 4:16). https://bit.ly/2z35rcL

That
is why the apostle Paul shared that he had to run the spiritual race with self-discipline
if he did not want to be disqualified. https://bit.ly/2wKUGuO

In
conclusion, this viral pandemic is highly instructional. It shows us why it is
important to embrace correct beliefs to avoid physical death. Similarly, believers
need to hold fast to sound doctrine in order that we might be saved. If we fall
prey to false doctrine, fail to overcome deception, we may miss out on heaven.

CONTENDING
FOR THE TRUTH

We
need to guard the truth (2 Tim. 1:14), continue in what we have learned and
have firmly believed (2 Tim. 3: 14), preach sound doctrine, rebuke false
doctrine (2 Tim. 4: 2), and contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). We must not shrink from declaring the
whole counsel of God found in scriptures (Acts 20:27).

It
is implied that, if we don’t build ourselves up on sound doctrine, we might not
inherit salvation:

“Watch
your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will
save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

“And
now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts
20:32).

SALVATION:A FUTURE HOPE AND INHERITANCE

“Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great
mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable
and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are
protected by the power of God through faith for asalvation ready to be
revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

One
day, believers will be presented holy and blameless before God; but the
condition is that we must remain steadfast in the faith:

And
you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now
reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and
blameless and above reproach before him, if
indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from
the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all
creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.(Colossians
1:21-23)

RELATED POSTS

IS SALVATION AN EVENT OR
PROCESS?

Is
salvation merely an event that happens when we make a decision to invite Christ
into our life or utter the sinner’s prayer?

Joseph Prince made a bold statement in his book: “The bottom line
is that the Holy Spirit never convicts you of your sins. He NEVER comes to
point out your faults. I challenge you to find a scripture in the Bible that
tells you that the Holy Spirit has come to convict you of your sins. You won’t
find any.”